Press Release: Strictly Embargoed Until 9Am GMT on 5 April 2017
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Press release: strictly embargoed until 9am GMT on 5 April 2017 HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS SIGN GLOBAL PADDINGTON PUBLISHING PARTNERSHIP WITH VIVENDI Bologna Children’s Book Fair Launch of Paddington 2 Movie Publishing Heralds Media Powerhouse Partnership London/Bologna, 5 April 2017: HarperCollins Children’s Books, Home of Paddington Bear publishing for sixty years, and Vivendi today announced a ground-breaking, six-year deal with Vivendi for World Publishing Rights including audio and e-book. Vivendi took full ownership of the Paddington brand worldwide following the successful international release of the Paddington movie by Studiocanal, a Vivendi subsidiary, in 2014. The deal marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in Paddington’s history forming a powerhouse partnership of media and content creation that will introduce Paddington to a new generation of readers on the global stage. Launching with a movie tie-in programme, co- published by HarperCollins US and UK, to coincide with the Paddington 2 movie this Autumn, the partnership creates a strategic alliance of heritage and future vision which will establish a worldwide brand loyalty for Paddington Bear and reach and entertain families across the globe. As a global hub of publishing expertise with operations in 18 countries, HarperCollins has a customised approach to selling worldwide. The new multi-format global publishing plan will allow local publishers the opportunity to build optimal programmes to appeal to the broadest base of readers worldwide. Ann-Janine Murtagh, Executive Publisher HarperCollins Children’s Books UK, commented: “We are proud to be both the original publisher of Paddington Bear and now exclusive global publishing partner of the Vivendi group. We share their ambition to ensure that Paddington Bear builds an ever bigger fan base and continues to endear children worldwide. We have been privileged to publish Michael Bond on the HarperCollins list for nearly 60 years. We admire the integrity and creativity with which Studiocanal have brought Paddington to life in the first Paddington movie and look forward with huge excitement to movie 2. Paddington Publishing marks a key strand of HarperCollins’ future growth strategy and we look forward to working with our colleagues at Vivendi in the years ahead.” -ends- Issued by: Jo Hardacre, PR Director, Children’s Division. T. 0208 307 4736 E. [email protected] World rights enquiries to Carla Alonzi, Head of Rights,Children’s Division. T. 0208 307 4289 E. [email protected] Notes to Editors: HarperCollins Children's Books, Children's Publisher of the Year 2014, 2015, 2016, aims to inspire and nurture a lifelong love of reading by publishing the best books for children of all ages. One of the leading publishers of children’s books, it is recognised for nurturing new talent as well as boasting a reputable list of established best-selling authors. Respected worldwide for its tradition of publishing quality, award-winning books for young readers, HarperCollins is home to many children’s classics, including The Chronicles of Narnia, Hello Kitty, the Paddington stories, The Cat in the Hat and The Tiger Who Came to Tea, and to some of the biggest names in children’s literature past and present, including J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Dr. Seuss, David Walliams, Derek Landy, Louise Rennison, Lauren Child, Judith Kerr, David Baddiel and Michael Morpurgo. About HarperCollins Publishers: HarperCollins UK is a division of HarperCollins Publishers, the second largest consumer book publisher in the world, with operations in 18 countries. With two hundred years of history and more than 120 unique imprints around the world, HarperCollins publishes approximately 10,000 new books every year, in 17 languages, and has a print and digital catalogue of more than 200,000 titles. Writing across dozens of genres, HarperCollins authors include winners of the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals and the Man Booker Prize. HarperCollins UK has offices in London, Glasgow and Honley, and can be found online at www.harpercollins.co.uk. To explore HarperCollins’ 200 year history, including a list of 200 iconic titles, fascinating stories and artefacts from the archive, visit www.hc.com/200. About Paddington: For almost 60 years, British-born writer Michael Bond has been entertaining children and families all over the world with his stories about Paddington, the bear from Darkest Peru famous for his love of marmalade. Since the first book, A Bear Called Paddington, was published by HarperCollins in 1958, a further 14 full-length novels and countless other formats have been published. Paddington’s adventures have been adapted several times for television and at the end of 2014 Paddington made his debut onto the big screen. The movie, produced by Studiocanal, part of the international media and content group Vivendi, was the best-selling non-Hollywood family movie ever released. A second Paddington movie, Paddington 2, is set to launch globally on 10thNovember 2017. In recognition of Paddington’s extraordinary popularity and success, Michael Bond was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) from the Queen for services to children’s literature in 1997 and a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2015. Today, there are over 150 book titles available in 40 languages and in more than 100 countries, book sales are in excess of 35 million. The PADDINGTON DVD released in 2015 by Studiocanal was the fastest and strongest selling DVD of 2015 in the UK. Paddington has a growing online presence with over 600 thousand Facebook fans and over 20 thousand Twitter followers. ©P&Co. Ltd./SC 2017 Licensed on behalf of Studiocanal S.A.S by Copyrights Group .